Type wheel locking means in laundry marking machines



Nov. 7, 1950 w. s. PETTY 2,529,226

TYPE WHEEL LockING MEANS IN LAUNDRY MARKING MACHINES Filed Sept. 6, 1947I 5 SheeIzs-Sheet 1 z: u n z:

3nnentor i wW/am a Pe/zj/ Gttorneg W. S. PETTY Nov. 7, 1950 TYPE WHEELLOCKING MEANS IN LAUNDRY MARKING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept.6, 1947 Zhwentor %7///0 *3. e/

attorney Nov. 7, 1950 w, s, PETTY 2,529,226

TYPE WHEEL LOCKING MEANS IN LAUNDRY MARKING MACHINES Filed Sept. 6, 1947I 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Snventor Gttorneg Patented Nov. 7, 1950 UNITED STATESPATENT OFHQE TYPE WHEEL LOCKING MEANS IN LAUNDRY MARKING MACHINES 2Claims.

This invention relates to a laundry marking machine of the typeillustrated in applicants prior Patents No. 2,136,461 and Patent No.,157,- 497 and has for its principal object the provision for a small,compact, highly efficient laundry marking device upon which any desiredseries of figures or numerals may be quickly pre-set so as to be easilystamped upon garments for laundry and cleaning identification purposes.

Another object of the invention is to provide a highly efficient inkingdevice for applying water-proof ink to the printing type in advance ofeach impression stroke.

A further object is to provide a toothed quadrant and gear arrangementwhich will enable the over-all height of the machine to be greatlyreduced.

A still further object is to provide a stop ratchet mechanism for typewheels which will stop the individual type faces in proper alignment andwhich can be adjusted to bring the aligned type faces into accurateregister with the impression platen.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of theinvention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efficiency.These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is hadto the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. merals refer tolike parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the improved laundry marking machine;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a rear view thereof;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section through the machine, taken on the linei4, Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section, taken on the line 5-5, Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a similar enlarged section, taken on the line 6-6, Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view taken on the line ll, Fig. 2;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail section taken on the line 8-8, Fig. 5; and

Fig. 9 is a similar detail section taken on the line 89, Fi 2.

The improved laundry marking machine is mounted on a portable base itand employs two open side frames l l and I2, the upper extremities Likenuof which are rounded on an arc to support an arcuate index plate 1'3.The frames M and i2 extend forwardly to support a type wheel shaft 53.The type wheel shaft 53 is surrounded by a bearing sleeve 51 upon whicha bearing drum 55 is mounted. The bearing drum carries a plurality ofannular rotatable type wheels i5, which are separated from each other bynarrow spacing rings 58. The type wheels are provided with type facesseparated by means of indented notches l8 which form, in effect, anannular series of gear teeth.

The frames H and 92 also support a countershaft ll which is locked inplace by means of set screws 5!. A plurality of intermediate gears i8are mounted on the counter shaft ll, therebeing one gear it? for each ofthe type wheels 55. The teeth of the gears 58 enter the notches [6between the type faces it. A drive gear I9 is formed integrally with, orattached to, one side of each intermediate gear 58. The drive gears l 9are much smaller in diameter than the intermediate gears !8 and thelatter are smaller in diameter than the type wheels I 5.

The drive gears are rotated by means of gear teeth 28 formed on arcuatesegments 2i. The segments 2! are carried on segment frames 22 from eachof which an operating handle 23 projects through an elongated slot inthe index plate 53. The index plate it carries index strips 94displaying numerals and letters opposite which the various handles 23may be positioned.

When a handle is pulled downwardly it rapidly rotates one of theintermediate gears [8 through the intermeshing of the teeth 20 with itsdrive gear l9. This causes that intermediate gear [8 to rotate its typewheel 55 to position a type face thereon in the printing position. Dueto the great difference in diameter between the arcuate segments 25 andthe drive gears [9, a type wheel can be rotated a complete revolutionwith a movement of approximately of its handle 23. This allows a greatreduction in size to be made over the usual marking machine. The openextremities of the hollow segment shaft 36 may be closed by means of hubplugs 69.

It is necessary to hold the type wheels in their several printingpositions. This is accomplished by means of pawl detent levers 2therebeing one detent lever for each intermediate gear 83. The detentlevers pass between and are held in spaced relation by the segmentframes 22. Each pawl detent lever terminates at its free extremity in arounded tooth 25, which rests between adjacent teeth of an intermediategear I8. As the intermediate gear rotates its teeth slide under therounded surface of the tooth 25 lifting it from tooth space to toothspace.

The other extremities of the pawl detent levers 24 are hingedly mountedon an eccentric shaft 26. The extremities of the shaft 26 are pivoted oneccentric studs 59 projecting from rotatable bearing members 21 mountedin the side frames II and I2. Rotation of the bearing members 2? changesthe position of the eccentric shaft 26 due to the eccentric mountingthereof. The bearing members 21 may be locked at any desired angularposition by means of set screws 28. The purpose of the eccentricmounting is to allow an adjustment to be made of the position of therounded teeth 25 to vary and accurately pre-set the printing position ofthe type faces of the aligned type wheels !5.

The pawl detent levers 24 are constantly urged toward the intermediategears M3 by means of individual tension springs 29, extending therefromto a spring attachment clip 58 on the base I. While the detent levers 2are illustrated as being pulled downwardly against the intermediategears by the springs 29, the springs could of course be reversed so asto pull upwardly against these gears if preferred.

The segment frames 22 are rotatably mounted on a hollow segment shaft 38extending between the side frames H and I2. The segment frames areaccurately spaced from each other along the shaft 30 by means ofsuitable spacers 3!.

The type wheels l may be aligned and held in their final alignedposition by means of a U-shaped locking bar. The locking bar is mountedon a rocker shaft 33. A spring engaging pin 34 extends laterally fromone of the rear extremities of the bar 32 into frictional contact with aholding spring 35 secured on the side frame M to hold the locking bar 32in either the elevated or lowered position.

The goods to be marked are placed over a resilient platen pad 35 mountedon the upper extremity of an A-shaped platen arm 31, which is hinged ona platen shaft 38 mounted on the base H3. The rearward movement of theplaten arm 31 is limited by means of adjustable stop screws 39projecting from the base H3. The platen arm 31 carries an operatorshandle 45 by means of which the platen pad 36 is forced against the typewheels l5.

The type is inked by means of an ink pad carried on the upper extremityof a hinged pad frame 42. The ink pad frame 62 is hingedly mounted on ahinge pin 43. The hinge pin is supported between two fixed bracket arms44 extending from the side members of the platen arm 31. The ink padframe 42 is resiliently urged toward alignment with the bracket members44 by a tension spring 52 extending from the shaft 38 to cross stop bar54 the extremities of which contact the members 44 to stop the forwardswing of the pad frame 42. The ink pad frame 42 carries two rollers 45,there being one roller positioned at each side of the series of typewheels I5. The rollers Contact and ride on two guide discs 46, therebeing one guide disc 46 at each side of the series of type wheels. guidediscs 46 are provided with hubs for receiving the bearing sleeve 5? andare attached to the drum 55 by means of suitable screws 6!. The discsare prevented from rotating on the sleeve 57 y pins 56. The discs areprevented from r0- The tating about the axis of the shaft 53 by means ofstop pins 4'! which project from arms formed on the discs into contactwith ledges 48 on the side frames H and I2. A receiving notch 48 isformed in each guide disc 46 to initially receive the rollers 45. A tagholder 49 is provided on the arm 37 for holding small marking tags onthe platen pad 36. This tag holder is described more in detail incopending application Serial No. 677,049, now Patent Number 2,4e2,094,patented May 25, 1948.

In use, the article to be marked is hung over the platen pad 36 and thehandle 39 is pushed toward the type wheels. The first movement causesthe rollers to enter the notches d8. This allows the ink pad 4! tocontact the row of aligned type faces immediately above the rollersapplying ink to the latter. Further forward movement of the platen frame37 causes the bracket members 44 to swing the ink pad frame 42 forwardlyand downwardly. In moving forwardly and downwardly the rollers 35 travelout of the notches 48 as shown in Fig. 4 lifting the ink pad 4| from thetype faces and causing it to travel out of the path of the platen pad 36so that the latter may force the goods to be marked against the alignedline of type faces.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described andillustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may bevaried, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired securedby Letters Patent is:

l. A laundry marking machine comprising: a-

type wheel shaft; a plurality of adjacent type wheels mounted to rotateabout the axis of said shaft, the type faces on said type wheels beingseparated by notches; intermediate gears meshing with the notches ofsaid type wheels; a drive gear concentrically attached to eachintermediate gear; a toothed segment frame meshing with each drive gear;a handle projecting from each frame for rotating the latter; a hingedpawl detent lever positioned between each pair of adjacent segmentframes; a projecting detent on each detent lever engaging between theteeth of one of said intermediate gears; a spring urging each detentlever toward one of said intermediate gears; a detent lever shaft actingas a common hinge axis for all of said detent levers; a bearingsupporting each extremity of said lever shaft; and means for shiftingsaid bearing member to vary the position of the contact point betweensaid projecting detents and said intermediate gears.

2. A laundry marking machine comprising: a type wheel shaft; a pluralityof adjacent type wheels mounted to rotate about the axis of said shaft,the type faces on said type wheels being separated by notches;intermediate gears meshing with the notches of said type wheels; a drivegear concentrically attached to each intermediate gear; a toothedsegment frame meshing with each drive gear; a handle projecting fromeach frame for rotating the latter; a hinged pawl detent leverpositioned between each pair of adjacent segment frames; a projectingdetent on each pawl detent lever engaging between the teeth of one ofsaid intermediate gears; a spring urging each detent lever toward one ofsaid intermediate gears; a detent lever shaft acting as a common hingeaxis for all of said pawl detent levers; a bearing supporting eachextremity of said lever shaft; a rotatable member eccentri- 5 Callysupporting each bearing to allow the axial Number position of said levershaft to be shifted. 908,847 WILLIAM S. PETTY. 1,241,417 1,580,171REFERENCES CITED 5 1 44 144 The iollowing references are of record inthe 1,715,556 file of this patent: 2,119,713 2,157,497 UNITED STATESPATENTS 2,428560 Number Name Date 10 864,790 Lang Sept. 3, 1907 907,577Diehl Dec. 22, 1908 Name Date Dixon Jan. 5, 1909 Mitchell Sept. 25, 1917Schramm Apr. 13, 1926 Osborne Oct. 4, 1927 Jenner June 4, 1929 Lang June7, 1938 Petty May 9, 1939 Faust Oct. 7, 1947

